3-Rail Kick Shot - Table Setup Question

[Aaron_S]

The starting spot in the diagrammed shot is "5", and you want to end up at "2" on the third rail, so aim at the "3"rd diamond. 5=3+2. This is the way I've read it in DeadAims post, in Fels book, and many others.

While I don't personally use this system, one of the local players at this pool hall does. He mentioned the system to me, we applied it to this table, and we came to the conclusion that either 5=2+2 or these tables are totally f'ed up.

Rarely is the correct aim for this three rail shot directly at that third diamond.

Correct, but, as I stated in a previous post, it should get you in the ball park under normal circumstances. I don't consider 1.25 diamonds short to even be in the ballpark.

I have found that it is more common to aim at about midway between the 2nd and 3rd diamonds

2 1/4 seems to be pretty popular as the "exactly correct" answer, but, as everyone knows, "exactly correct" is different on each table. 2 1/8 to 2 1/4 is exactly correct on my GCII with well worn 860.

Try the shot starting at each of the foot-rail corners to see if the table is 'square' to itself, often these two shots play a bit differently.

All of the obvious things like that have been tried, and, as stated previously, we're not talking about just one table; this problem persists throughout the pool hall.

 

[Aaron_S]

Lets see if this gets through on the Wei table. Medium stroke,and you can make this shot all day long.

CueTable Help

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Actually, that's just going to shorten up a kick that's already too short to begin with.

 

[Aaron_S]

I spoke to a Brunswick employee, and he said that the most likely cause of the problem is that the felt is stretched too tight over the cushions. He said that the felt should only be snug on the cushions, and if it's too tight, it can change the nose-height enough to screw up the angles and make the cushions play more lively than they should. Sounds reasonable to me, and, considering how tight the felt is stretched over the bed of the tables, it definitely seems likely that it's too tight on the rails. He said that the tops of the cushions should feel smooth under the felt, and, if they're being compressed by the felt, they will feel dimply like braille writing. I will have to check this out the next time I'm over there. Hopefully we can get this figured out and corrected. The tables are way too nice to have this kind of annoying quirkiness about them.